Telephone and telegraph pole construction



H. E. ADAMS.

TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH POLE CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATKJN HLED FEB.19.1914.

1,1 94,690. Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

HAB-RY E. ADAMS, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH POLE CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

Application filed February 19, 1914. Serial No. 819,640.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY E. ADAMS, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Telephone and Telegraph Pole Constructions, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to telegraph or telephone poles and it has for is object the provision of an improved device of this characterconstructed in such manner as, in the case of new poles, to protect theparts thereof from the action of theweather and to provide such aconstruction of the insulators that there will be no danger of theinsulated elements becoming detached from the cross arms of the pole, orin the case of old poles to provide such a structure as will enableparts of the old and rotted cross arm to be used to support the newelements forming the subject matter of the present invention.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in thedetailed description which now follows. 7

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a poleconstructed in accordance with the invention, Fig. 2 is a transversesectional view through the cross arm, upon line 22 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 isa detailed perspective view of a bracket adapted to be secured directlyto the side of the pole, Fig. 4 is a ,detailed perspective view of aninsulator supporting plate hereine fter described, and Fig. 5 is aperspective view illustrating the metallic sheathing for one of thecross arms.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of thedrawing.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 5 designates a telephone ortelegraph pole and 6 one of the usual cross arms thereon. One of thelargest items of expense that confronts a telephone or telegraph companyis the continual replacement and repair of the cross arms such as areillustrated at6, said "cross arms becoming rotten from exposure to theweather. Sometimes it may'be that the ordinary wooden pin usuallyemployed to screw the glass insulators upon rots away and breaksloosefrom the cross arm letting the wires secured to such insulatorsmove to one side or the other and become crossed with the remainingwires upon the cross arm.

In carrying out the invention I provide a metallic cross arm which isillustrated in Fig. 5. This cross arm is made of sheet metal andcomprises the sides 7, the bottom 8 and the top 9. The top and sides arecrimped together in such manner as to form flaring flanges 10 and thesides are crimped at the bottom to form flanges 11. The purpose of theflanges 10 and 11 is to constitute a means for engaging an insulatorsupporting plate 12. These plates are provided with the flanges 13 attheir edges said flanges being of hook-like formation and adapted totake over either the flanges 10 or 11 according to whether the plate isto be mounted upon the top of the cross arm or the under side thereof.Plates 12 are provided with upstanding tubular members 14 which areinternally threaded at 15 for the reception of the insulators 16. Theseinsulators are formed of glass and are threaded at 17 for engagementwith the screw thread 15 of the tubular members 14.

The cross arm illustrated in Fig. 5 is provided at suitable intervalswith openings 18 which register with the tubular members 14 so that whenthe insulators 16 are screwed into position the lower ends of theseinsulatorsenter said recesses and prmnt' endwise movement of the plates12' with relation to the cross arm.

The operation of this device is as follows: When the device is to beused in connection with the repair of old cross arms and it is foundthat the old cross arm has become so rotten that it may no longer bedepended upon to hold the insulator carrying pins securely in placethese old pins are cut off and if desired a portion of the cross arm maybe cut away, particularly if it be found to be in a badly rottedcondition. Then the tubular cross arm or sheathing shown in Fig. 5, isslipped into place upon the old wooden cross arm, and thereafter orprior thereto as may be desired, the plates 12 are engaged with theflanges 10 and 11 and the insulators are screwed into position to holdsaid plate against movement.

The tubular cross arm shown in Fig. 5, is provided with an upstandingflange 20 by means of which it may be secured to the pole 5; through themedium of fastening .devices 21. The tubular cross arm shown in Fig. 5may also be used in conjunction with new wooden cross arms in WhlCh caseit will be made of suflicient length to cover the entire cross armbefore the cross arm is placed in position upon these poles." It isapparent that this merely involves making the structure shown in Fig. 1a little longer. Fig. 3 shows a bracket 22 with flan es 23 which servesthe same purpose as the anges 10. The bracket 22 carries upstanding ears2& for the reception of fastening devices 25 by which the brackets maybe secured to the face of the pole. When a plate such as is shown inFig. 4: is slipped upon the flanges 23, it is apparent that member 1athereof serves as a receptacle for a glass insulator by means of which awire may be supported directly from the body of the pole instead of froma cross arm. In rainy weather it sometimes happens that a wire will comepartly or incompletely in contact with a cross arm or the water runningdown the parts will form a partial ground. These partial grounds arevery difficult to locate while a positive ground may be very easilylocated and I utilize the structure herein shown and described to form apositive ground in any casewhere the Wire becomes etached from theinsulator and rests upon the cross arm. By virtue of the fact that thestructure shown in ig. 5 is a metallic structure, if the wire comes incontact therewith and this metallic structure be grounded as isillustrated at'25 in Fig. 1, it is. apparent that the wires will bepositively grounded at this point. Such positive. ground may be easilylocated in the usual manner from the central oflice and it is thereforeonly necessary to direct the lineman to go to that particular pole andcorrect the evil.

The herein described structure will save an enormous amount of moneyevery year to the telephone and telegraph companies. It may be cheaplyand economically manufactured and it will not only save money in crossarms but it will also save a great deal from the standpoint of the laborrequired to place this device in position, rather than to take down across arm and put a new one in its place. If a cross arm is found to bebadly diseased it is only necessary to out off the outer end thereofleaving the main body of the arm still secured to the pole and to thenslip the structure shown in Fig. 5 upon the remaining stump of the armand secure it in place in the manner set forth.

While the elements shown and described are well adapted to serve thepurposes for which they are intended, it is to be under- Havingdescribed my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination with a polesupported member, of a plate, interengaging flanges carried by saidplate, and said pole supported mem ber, a tubular insulator receivingmember carried by said plate, said pole supported member being providedwith recesses adapted to register with the insulator receiving member ofthe plate so that an insulator screwed into said insulator receivingmember may enter said recesses.

2. A plate having engaging flanges at its edges and Jan insulatorreceiving member upstanding from its upper face, said insulator recelvinmember being of tubular formation an being internally threaded, theopenings through said tubular member extending entirely through saidplate, and a pole supported member, said pole supported member having aplurality of re- .cesses formed therein with which the tubular insulatorreceiving members are adapted to register.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination'with a poleand its usual wooden cross arm of a metallic sheathing constructed toslip over said cross arm,

HARRY E. ADAMS. Witnesses:

R. E. MARSHALL, F. G. CAMPBELL.

